Celebrities Who Have Given Birth Via C-Section

23 Celebrities Who've Given Birth Via C-Section

The growing C-section rate is always the subject of debate and is one that is closely associated with Hollywood. Though the home-birth movement is gaining momentum among celebs, one-third of all births still come via surgery. Whether moms are "too posh to push" and schedule their deliveries in advance or end up going under the knife after hours (and sometimes days) of labor, plenty of Tinseltown mamas first meet their lil ones in the operating room. Check out 23 celeb moms who've gone this route.

Christina Aguilera famously scheduled her C-section for her first child, Max, during her 37th week of pregnancy, saying, "I didn't want any surprises. Honestly, I didn't want any [vaginal] tearing. I had heard horror stories of women going in and having to have an emergency C-section [anyway]. The hardest part was deciding on his birthday. I wanted to leave it up to fate, but at the same time I was ready to be done early!"

We're not sure if Britney Spears scheduled her C-section with Sean Preston or if it happened once she was in labor, but prior to his birth, Britney said she hoped to have a C-section because she didn't "want to go through the pain. My mom said giving birth was the most excruciating thing she's ever gone through in her life." She went on to deliver Jayden James through a second C-section.

Victoria Beckham is the namesake for the "too posh to push" label placed on women who opt for scheduled C-sections. The expectant mama delivered her three sons via planned surgeries, and rumor has it that she prescheduled the delivery of her daughter in 2011.

Back when Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen were married, the couple had a plan for everything, including giving birth via C-section nine days before her due date to tie in with Charlie's scheduled work hiatus. But their first child, Sam, had her own plans, sending Denise into labor and into the operating room a day early.

Marcia Cross welcomed her twins via C-section, commenting, "And whoever said that was easy?! I did not enjoy that, not for one minute . . . I heard Savannah come out cause I knew she was coming out first and I was waiting and waiting for Eden. But I didn't realize they got them out so fast that they were both out. I was thinking something is wrong and she was already out."

"I had a C-section, but my sister gave birth six months later — we got pregnant around the same time — and she asked me to be in the delivery room with her, and I was, like, 'Wow!' Because I had twins and that was recommended for me to have a C-section, and there was a part of me [that] had thought, 'I didn't get to do it the way that everybody else does.' But when I saw my sister pushing that baby out, I was like, 'Maybe this was all right! Maybe this was a better out.' So that was an experience."

Camila Alves labored for 60 hours with her first child, before her doctor recommended taking her in for a C-section. Matthew McConaughey recalled Levi's birth, saying, "We'd been up for 40-something hours, and we went from dead tired to a really steadfast, 'Let's handle this . . . let's stay in the rhythm. Don't let the contraction be more than you.' The doctor wanted to give her an epidural, and we said, 'Give us a few more hours to keep rocking with this.' I wasn't speaking for Camila. She had the option of saying, 'Give me an epidural, right now,' whenever she wanted. This is where I learned — and no one tells you this — but having a baby is a bloody, pukey, sweaty, primeval thing! And I mean that as a beautiful thing. It is wild. But the vacuum didn't work, and the doctor said, 'C-section.'"

Jenny McCarthy pushed for three hours before baby Evan's heart rate dropped and the doctors sped her into the operating room for an emergency C-section. Later, Jenny said, "It's horrible, it's horrible — it's hard when they have you strapped down 'cause you're like, 'I just want to hold my baby!'"

Brooke Shields is a double C-section recipient, having labored for 24 hours before an emergency C-section with her first daughter, Rowan, and scheduling the delivery of her second, Grier. She described the difference between the two experiences, as Rowan being "whisked away . . . this time I got to feel Grier, kiss her, and they put her right on my chest."

Kate Winslet lied to friends about giving birth to her first child, Mia, via C-section. Having tried for a natural birth, she covered up her emergency C-section, telling friends she "had a natural birth because I was so completely traumatized by the fact that I hadn't given birth. I felt like a complete failure. My whole life, I'd been told I had great child-bearing hips. There's this thing amongst women that if you can handle childbirth you can handle anything. I had never handled childbirth and I felt like in some way I couldn't enter the 'powerful women's club.'"

Angelina Jolie escaped the paparazzi and headed to Africa to bring baby Shiloh into the world. Angelina described her C-section: "We were in this little hospital in Africa when Shi was born. I don't think there was anybody else in the hospital. It was just a little cottage, the three of us. It ended up being the greatest thing . . . I had a C-section and I found it fascinating. I didn't find it a sacrifice and I didn't find it a painful experience. I found it a fascinating miracle of what a body can do."

Tiffani Thiessen was in labor for 30 hours before her doctors turned to a C-section to get baby Harper out. The actress said, "First my water didn't break; they had to do it for me. Then the baby wasn't descending, because the cord was wrapped around her neck. Once she was finally out, I didn't even get to hold her before they whisked her away. You're staring across the room, like, 'Hello? Over here!' The whole thing was very surreal."

Pink and Carey Hart may have been planning on a natural birth for their baby, Willow, but the tot had other plans.

"We watched Ricki Lake's documentary The Business of Being Born early on. It was so enlightening and empowering. We took all kinds of classes and decided to work with midwives at The Sanctuary . . . I was really looking forward to the whole rite of passage — giving birth perfectly present, unmedicated, in the way nature intended . . . She was in the frank breech position, which is head up with her legs up by her head in a pike position. We tried everything to turn her around. Turns out this little girl had other plans — she is my daughter, after all. It all turned out perfectly in the end, even though it wasn't what we intended, because she is healthy and happy and so am I."

Molly Sims had planned on a natural birth, but little Brooks's umbilical cord put an end to that. She said:

"I wanted to do it naturally but there was a problem with the umbilical cord, so I had to have a C-Section. It's definitely scary because you have to go into an operating room — I walked in and then right back out! But Scott was there the whole time. When they took Brooks over to the warmer, he grabbed my husband's finger. Scott cried so hard, he basically baptized him."

Kate Hudson's C-section with baby Ryder was more a result of happenstance than preplanning or emergency. Kate recalled:

"I was going in to get induced because the baby was so big. Then my hips weren't opening and I wasn't dilating. I was in labor. My contractions were two to five minutes apart, and I couldn't feel anything. The doctor said I could go home, but it was such a pain in the butt to get to the hospital because we were being stalked by photographers . . . I was like, 'I am not going home, just don't want to do this again. Let's just have a C-section.'"

Tori Spelling was planning on a vaginal birth to welcome her firstborn, Liam, but her doctor said he needed to perform an emergency C-section. After the birth, which was chronicled on her reality show, she said, "I had a C-section, which kept me from exercising for nine weeks. One of the biggest misconceptions is that celebrities have C-sections because it's easier. If I had a choice, I would not have. The recovery is much worse." She went on to schedule C-sections with her subsequent children, Stella, Hattie, and Finn.

All childbirth is a natural event! Be glad we have C sections as an option today. Just 100 years ago, they were only done to save the baby when the Mother wasn't expected to make it, because back then, they didn't believe in sewing up the uterus due to risk of infection, and so women typically bled to death or died of infection! Modern suture material made todays C sections possible. In medieval times, horrible instruments were used to crush the babies head when they got stuck in the pelvis to save the mother rather than losing both Mother and baby!

some of them had to due to complications or simply having a baby to large to pass through their birth canal which is determined by the circumfrance of the babies head or a large birth weight can also determine a c-section particularly in shorter women. for example Joanne Woodward once admitted she was born via c-section in 1930 because she was breech and nearly 11lbs coming out of a woman who was 5ft tall while her younget grandson was a planned c-section because her daughter had had complications during pregnancy including pre-term labor and toximia plus the baby was 11.6lbs at birth not that her daughter Lissy is short 5ft 8in